Nightmare On The Highway
by QueenOfTheUniverse
Summary: Jacob winds up in a car accident after hitting a man in the middle of the highway who looks strangely like the dead Sean Trelawney. As Angela and Jacob battle Sean one more horrifying time, all three of them learn something about True Love.
1. Default Chapter

The Net: Nightmare On The Highway: Chapter 1

Jacob left the University of Washington's library ahead of his classmates. He looked at his watch and hurried over to his car.

"Going to Angela's for dinner?" one of his friends asked.

"Yeah, actually I am," he replied.

"You're so lucky man. What did you tell her to make her want to cook for you?" someone else asked.

"I just told her the truth: that we'd be working late on a project for class and that by the time we would be finished the dinning hall would be closed. She offered to make me dinner. That's all. Now, I really need to get going. I have to be there by eight-fifteen, and it's eight now. So, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Yeah sure, see ya!"

Jacob got into his car and sped out of the parking lot. He drove down the familiar back roads to Angela's apartment, excited about having dinner with her, when he saw an orange barrier in the road up ahead. He slowed to a stop and saw a huge hole in the road on the other side of the barrier. Jacob sighed heavily and looked at the clock. It read eight-ten. Sighing again, he slowly turned his car around and headed back the way he had come. He'd have to take the long way now.

Back out on the highway, he drove for awhile as he watched the sun sink lower and lower until it was pitch black out. He was forced to turn on his headlights as he continued on. He searched for the right exit but couldn't find any at all. Jacob kept on driving, growing more and more worried by the minute. Picking up his cell phone, he dialed Angela's number. There was no ringing sound at all when he put the phone to his ear, only static. He hung up and looked at the clock again. Eight-ten. His watch said the same thing and the second hand wasn't moving.

_Maybe I should turn around,_ he thought. _But if I do, I'll run into that road block again and there's no getting around that thing. And on top of that, I don't know any other way to Angel's other than these two. I guess the only thing I can do is keep going the way I am. _

So, he kept driving, seeing no exits, no buildings, no people, no road signs, no nothing at all, just highway stretching out in front and in back of him as far as the eye could see. There was no other cars on the road either. He tried calling Angela's again, but still, there was only static. On the road, there wasn't a single exit, no houses, no people, no signs. No signs of life. Turning on the radio and wishing desperately to be able to see Angela soon, he got only static there too and turned it off. Both his watch and the clock in his car still read eight-ten, even though it seemed like he'd been on the road forever. It seemed like this was taking way too long to get to Angela's, even by highway instead of his usual shortcut.

All of a sudden there was a man standing in the road in front of him. Jacob swerved to miss the guy but his tail end knocked him to the ground. The front right tire tipped off the road and then the whole car went with it, rolling over and over down the hill until it hit a tree. Jacob sat there for awhile, resting his head on the side of the car. He could feel blood running down his face as he opened his eyes and blinked. He looked around and realized that his car was on its side and he couldn't get out.

_Thank God I wore my seatbelt, I think it just saved my life. But what about the other guy? I hope he's alright. I didn't see him standing there. He's the first person I've seen on this road too. I wonder what he was doing out there in the middle of the road anyway? I can't even call for help or see if he's ok. No one would hear me through this glass even though it's busted in several places. God, what am I going to do? No one's going to find us out here in a million years. And Angel's going to get worried. _ྭHe sighed heavily. _If only I could see her again, that would be the best thing in the world! _


	2. Part 2

The Net: Nightmare On The Highway: Chapter 2

Jacob waited and waited for what seemed like forever. He sat in one position, trapped in his car by the seatbelt which had saved his life. The belt was now jammed between the door and his seat. All he did was breath. He had even ceased to think by then.

A long time passed by until he finally heard sirens coming his way. They stopped somewhere nearby and he just barely heard a woman's voice screaming something he couldn't understand. Seconds later he saw several people running towards the car. He watched them, helplessly, as they sized up the situation. One of them ran back to their vehicle, and soon returned carrying some sort of machinery. Jacob then watched in horror as the guy began to saw through part of the door to his car. They pried the rest of the door off with a crow bar.

"Are you alright?" someone asked when the door was finally off and they were able to get to him.

"I think so. But what about the man I hit? The guy in the road?"

"There's no one out there anywhere or we would have seen them. Come on, let's get you out of here to a hospital. You've had a pretty bad accident here."

Carefully, they lifted him out of the totaled car and onto a stretcher.

Meanwhile, Angela paced the kitchen floor of her apartment, nervously, as she held the phone to her ear. "Walter, look, it's almost eleven thirty and he was supposed to be here over three hours ago! I tried calling his dorm but no one answers the phone. He hasn't called or anything. I tried his cell phone too, but no one answers there either. What on earth could have happened to him!"

"I'm sure he's probably just out partying with friends or something."

"No. He would have called. And besides, he was looking forward to dinner here tonight."

"Well, then, I don't know what to say."

"God, Walter, I mean, anything could have happened to him. Anything at all."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"Walter, you said that already." Suddenly there was a beep through the phone. "Oh, I've got a call coming in. I'll call you back," Angela said, hanging up with her boss to take the other call. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Angela Bennett?"

"Yes, it is."

"Hi, this is the Fletcher Memorial Hospital calling to tell you that we have a Jacob Resh here. He needs you to come pick him up."

"What! What happened to him! Is he alright!"

"He's fine. He was in a car accident but he only ended up with a few scrapes."

"Oh, thank God! I'll be right there."

Angela hung up, grabbed her keys, cell phone, and jacket as she ran out the door to her car. Once on the road, she called Walter and told him the news. Finally arriving at the hospital awhile later, she didn't even bother to lock the car door, as she ran into the hospital. A nurse showed her the room where Jacob was waiting for her. She ran to him and threw her arms around him in a thankful he was alive embrace.

"Angel! Boy am I glad to see you!" he exclaimed.

"And I'm extremely glad to see you too! Extremely glad to see you alive and OK! You have no idea how worried I was about you when you never showed up!" Jacob smiled briefly. "Well come on, let's get you home, so we can finally have dinner, and you can tell me what happened along the way."

After paying the hospital, they got into Angela's car, and began the long drive back to her place. Along the way, Jacob told her what had happened.

"Oh my God. Jacob, I just…..I can't believe he just disappeared like that. That no one saw him after you did."

"Yeah, I must not have hit him at all like I thought I did. And then he must have just left as soon as possible."

"I don't believe he didn't stop and help or even call for help before he left."

"Yeah, I'm just glad that woman came by and was able to get help. Yeah she didn't have a cell phone or anything, but she did go get someone, supposedly, anyway. That's what the hospital people told me."

"I just don't get one thing. You said all the road signs were gone? Because I know I'm seeing them now."

"I know. I don't get it either. But they were gone. I swear as sure as I'm sitting here!"

"Well, I don't care whether they were there or not, I want you to stay at my apartment tonight. You can have the pullout couch."

"Alright."

Angela turned off the main road onto a dark and very twisty back road.

"Angel, remember this is the road I told you about with…" Rounding a corner, they came upon the road block. "...that barrier," Jacob finished.

The only difference this time, was a man standing in front of it waving his arms to get them to stop. Blood covered his face and body.

"Oh my god! That's the guy I almost hit!" Jacob exclaimed. "I must have hit him cause he didn't have all that blood before!"

Angela braked the car to a quick stop.

"Jacob, you didn't get a good look at him before did you?"

The man started to stumble towards the car.

"No."

"Look now."

"HOLY SHIT! That's Sean Trelawney!...but…but….I thought he was….he was dead!"


	3. part 3

The Net: "Nightmare On The Highway" part 3

Angela threw the car into reverse and they sped backwards away from Sean until she could turn around. Then they headed out onto the highway. Angela was doing ninety miles an hour out of sheer terror, remembering that bright sunny day on the FBI training field when she'd seen her enemy shot to death by Walter. She'd watched Sean leave this life, herself. She was sure he was dead. But yet, there he'd been at that road block.

"What time is it?" she asked.

Jacob looked at his watch. It still read 8:10pm . Her clock read 11:45 . "It's 11:45 ," he said.

"Oh."

She looked in her rearview mirror and saw someone coming up close in their car, now that they were out on the highway. She was still doing ninety. No one else would be doing the same unless they were out to get her and Jacob. But who would do that besides Sean? Angela screamed and stepped on the gas peddle. Jacob watched the speedometer needle slowly pass one hundred and then one hundred ten.

"Angel?"

"Sean's behind us!" she exclaimed.

He turned in his seatbelt to see bright headlights trying to keep up with them. He faced forward again and watched as the signs along the road began to disappear again. There were no exit ramps or side roads. ྭIt was just as it had been before.

"Jacob!" Angela's voice was terrified.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me you see road signs and things!"

"I don't," he said truthfully, as he put a hand on her arm in an attempt to calm her down a little. His attempt failed as Sean drew even closer. She pressed further down on the gas.

For several miles Sean stayed a foot or so behind Angela and Jacob. But then everything changed when her car suddenly jolted forward.

"He's hitting my bumper!" Jacob grabbed hold of the door handle and the seat he was in. Trelawney rammed into her car again. "Jacob, my cell phone's in the glove box. Call Walter!"

Jacob reached for the phone as the car lurched forward again. He was thrown back against the seat, but he had the cell phone in his hand. He dialed her boss's phone number. It rang on the other end…..and it rang…..and it rang. Then it went to static. He hung up and tried again, but it was only static. The phone was dead the same as his.

"It won't work."

"Oh! God, we're gonna die! We are gonna die!"

"Angel, don't say that! Look at what we've been through already!"

"Yeah, but Sean's supposed to be dead! I watched him die myself!"

"It's just a dream! One of us has to wake up! That's all this is!"

"No it's not Jacob!"

"How would you know!"

Sean's car rammed into theirs harder than ever before. Angela's hand slipped off the steering wheel and hit a jagged edge on the stereo that had gotten scraped accidentally a few days before by a sharp object. Her breath caught in her throat for a second.

"Are you OK?" Jacob asked.

She pulled her arm up, and saw blood trickling down her arm. Grabbing onto the steering wheel, she pressed the car to go faster.

"This is how I know this isn't a dream! God, that hurts! Owwwww!"


	4. part 4

The Net: Nightmare On The Highway: Chapter 4

Gritting her teeth to keep her mind off the pain in her hand, she grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and continued down the highway at a breakneck speed. The pain slowly lessened, but Sean's hitting her bumper surely did not. Angela and Jacob were jerked forward smore times than they could possibly count.

A new sound suddenly rent through that of her engine pushing itself to the limits. There was a loud bang and a bullet came whizzing through her back window! It sped between them and right out the windshield, causing it to crack all over the place.

"Jacob, I can't see where we're going!"

Jacob ducked in his seat so that he could look through a portion of the glass that didn't have any cracks.

"Just keep going straight! You're doing fine! OK, turn ahead! Turn slightly to the right!"

Jacob gave her directions and she followed through, keeping them on the road. Though mostly, the road was straight, there were, on rare occasions, slight turns. Even through those turns, Sean managed to keep up with them and to keep hitting her bumper. One particular time, he rammed into them pretty hard; harder than usual. Angela and Jacob both lurched forward, but whereas Jacob had nothing immediately in front of him save his seatbelt, Angela was thrown into the steering wheel. She let out a scream of pain. Jacob jerked his head to look worriedly at her.

"I'm OK, I'm OK," she breathed, sitting up straighter and pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor, making them go even faster.

Jacob was thrown back in his seat from the force of their speeding, though he still managed to direct her which way to go. Another shot rang out, and this time the whole back window was gone when Jacob chanced a look. The bullet buried itself into the back of Jacob's seat. He advised Angela to stay low in her seat so Sean Trelawney couldn't see them very well.

"Where is this road taking us!" Jacob asked out loud.

"I don't know, but wherever it is, it had better be better than where we are now!"

The car lurched forward again, and this time there was another strange sound accompanying the one of her car being rear-ended constantly. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw to her horror that the whole back end of her vehicle had been smashed in! There was a huge dent the size of both her and Jacob's bodies put together underneath what used to be the back window. Angela's face was already white and Jacob's was growing paler by the second.

"Oh my God! Jacob we're running out of gas! I forgot to fill it after work today! We're almost empty!"

"SHIT!" the teen shouted. He looked back quickly, to see that Sean wasn't going to be losing them anytime soon. He looked through the glass again. "I see something!" he shouted in excitement. "Something's up ahead!"

"How far!"

"Maybe, well, I'm not sure. All I can see is a faint light. Maybe a mile or two."

"I don't know if I can make it!"

"Try Angel! Just try! That's all we can hope for!"

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews so far! You guys are awesome!


	5. part 5

The Net: Nightmare On The Highway: Chapter 5

While willing the car to go forward, Jacob chanced a look at Angela's dashboard clock. He realized then, that it's time, 11:45,couldn't possibly be correct. He'd remembered giving her that same time a long while ago. He shuddered and looked behind him. Miraculously, Sean Trelawney was several car lengths behind them, and they seemed to be slowing down!

"I think he's slowing down!" Jacob exclaimed.

Angela breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Of course," she said, her voice a bit shaky, "that doesn't mean he'll stop chasing us!"

"How're we doing? The gas holding out OK?"

"Barely."

Jacob faced forward again and watched as the tiny light he'd seen began to get bigger and bigger the closer they came to it. His eyes widened at the sight for it turned out to be nothing other than a small motel with a single gas pump out front. Angela slowly eased her car into the parking lot. It was almost empty.

"OK, here's the plan. Angel, you fill the tank, I'll go in and see if I can call Walter. If anything happens out here, give me a shout, K?"

"Yeah, sure."

Jacob ran into the front desk of the motel. There was an older man there, possibly in his late fifties, early sixties. He had short hair, once black, but now turning grey. He put down the newspaper he was reading when Jacob came in.

"What can I do for you? You'd like a room?"

"Is that a real working gas pump out there!" he asked, nearly out of breath.

"Yup Got a real working pool out back too if you want."

"Can I borrow your phone for a second? This is an emergency!"

"I'm sorry. But my phone's dead. Been dead for about a week now. Don't know when it's gonna come back either. You wanna room?"

"I…No. Here." Jacob dug deep into his pockets and pulled out a twenty and handed it to the guy. "For gas."

Going back outside, he found Angela just finishing up with the pump.

"I don't see Sean anywhere. Any luck with Walter?"

"No. Phone's dead."

"Great. Well, you think we should risk getting a room? Perhaps let this whole thing blow over and see what happens in the morning?"

"Well, I don't see what else we really can do except keep driving, though where this road is taking us, I haven't the foggiest clue."

"OK, I'll go park this around back, hopefully, Sean won't see it back there."

"I'll get the room then. Meet you out front."

A few short minutes later they found themselves standing in the doorway of a room in the back. There was only one bed. Angela sighed.

"I guess we'll just have to make due. Let's get in here before someone sees us!"

The door was shut behind them and bolted to the hilt with all of the available locks. Angela collapsed on the bed. Jacob joined her.

"God, what are we gonna do?" she asked. "How on earth are we supposed to outwit him or kill him? I mean, isn't he supposed to already be dead?" she asked.

"I only wish I had answers for you. But I don't. I don't have anything."

"I wanna go to sleep. But I don't know if I should."

"I'll stay awake and keep watch. I'll let ya know if anything should happen."

"But what about you? You need sleep too."

"I'll wake you up in a few hours, then you keep watch and I'll sleep. Sound good?"

"Yeah…..yeah….it…..does….." Angela had closed her eyes while they talked, and she was already mumbling on her way to sleep.

Meanwhile, Jacob amused himself by playing games on the pad of paper on the night stand, playing X's and 0's among others. After awhile, he picked up the phone to test it himself, and got nothing. There wasn't a single sound at all, not even the dial tone. He lazily put it back and started doodling on the paper again.


	6. part 6

The Net: "Nightmare On The Highway" part 6

Suddenly the thought occurred to Jacob to look at the alarm clock to check the time. He found it blinking 12:00 . "Damn," he said under his breath as he sat back against the headboard next to Angela's sleeping form. He stared at the TV for a long time. How long, he didn't know. Angela moaned and rolled over in her sleep taking him out of his trance-like state as she threw an arm around him. Jacob shook his head and looked down at her. She was still sound asleep, and had no idea that she was practically hugging him. Watching her, he found himself putting an arm around her.

It was a typical ultra cheap hotel room. One small TV with no remote, which probably didn't work anyway, sat on the dresser. The dresser itself was covered in peoples initials and anything else they could scratch into the surface. Next to the dresser was an old beat up and badly bent metal folding chair. Only God knew what that had been used for in a place like this. Beside the bed, there was a likewise beat up and scratched night table, with nothing but a lamp and a clock that couldn't tell the time. The bed itself wasn't in great shape either. The sheets and the comforter needed to be cleaned, badly, and the headboard and footboard, both resembled the night stand and the dresser in all the carvings they sported.

Neither he nor Angela had been in the bathroom to see what that was like, and he wasn't sure he even wanted to know.

Jacob decided to keep himself both awake and busy by reading what he could of the carvings. Most of which consisted of initials surrounded by hearts and plus signs. He sighed heavily. Not knowing what time it was, was really starting to get annoying. Never before had this bothered him. He'd gone hours without knowing before, but then, he'd had the info handy incase he ever did need to know. Now, he couldn't have it, and that was getting to him.

Angela woke up with a start just then. He took his arm from around her as she sat up.

"You OK?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, has anything happened?"

"Nope. Not a thing."

"Do we know the time yet?" she asked as she struggled to wipe the sleep from her eyes.

"I wish."

"Mmmmmmm….well, I guess you should try to get some sleep then. I'll keep watch."

"Yeah, right."

Jacob slid down so that his head was resting on the pillow he'd recently been sitting on when there was a weird noise at the door.

"What was that?" Angela asked.

"I don't know." He sat up again. "It sounded like something scratching the door. Probably just an animal out there, like a squirrel or something."

They both stared at the door for awhile before Jacob slid back down again, intent on getting some shut eye.

"Just an animal like I said. It's gone already."

But then the odd scratching noise started up again, and this time it didn't stop. Jacob bolted upright. He and Angela looked at each other. He watched Angela slowly get off the bed and tip-toe over to the door. She put her eye up to the peep hole to see what could possibly be on the other side scratching at the door.


	7. Part 7

The Net: "Nightmare On The Highway" part 7

A/N: Don't forget to R+R too! Constructive comments are always welcome! Proof that fans of my work are out there, is always a wonderful thing...enjoy! -IW

"Well….what is it?" Jacob asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

When Angela turned back to him, her face was covered in a look of terror. Her eyes were wide open and she stood there, staring at him, seemingly trying to scream, though no sound came out. She was breathing heavily.

"Angel, are you OK?" he whispered. "Who was it?...It wasn't Sean, was it?" he finally asked when she didn't respond to any of his earlier questions.

All she could do was nod.

"Oh God. Um, what are we going to do?" he asked out loud as he looked wildly around the room. His eyes fell on the old chair. Picking it up, he ran to the door. "Angel, I want you to open the door, and quickly get out of the way. OK?"

She nodded, and on his say so, she threw open the door, and stepped out of his way. He ran through, wielding the chair. He felt it come into contact with something hard, and saw Sean Trelawney fall to the ground out of the corner of his eye. Throwing the chair onto his prone body, Jacob ran towards the car, with Angela running close behind.

"Give me the keys!" he called as he was closer to the driver's side. She tossed them to him and they both got in.

Speeding away, Jacob looked into the rearview mirror to make sure Sean was still on the ground in front of their hotel door. The ground, however, was empty of his body. Jacob shivered and looked forward to the highway ahead of them as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked.

"Sean's gone already."

Angela looked back to confirm what he'd said and screamed. Jacob peered into the rearview once again and froze, his foot on the gas and his eyes on the mirror, on the bloody man in the back seat.


	8. Part 8

The Net: Nightmare on the Highway: Chapter 8

Jacob's eyes grew wide and he turned in his seat to make sure the mirror wasn't lying to him. As he turned, he saw a drop of blood fall to the shoulder of his seat, soaking into the fabric in an instant. Sean grinned at him, and gave a little evil laugh. Blood ran in rivulets down the side of his face. Jacob breathed out slowly before turning back to the road. With grim determination, and no warning, he spun the car around to face the other way.

Angela screamed, though her seatbelt kept her in place as Trelawney went flying to the other side of the car. Sean's head cracked against the side of the car but he recovered quickly. Sitting up, he reached his hands over Angela's head rest and looped his arms around her neck, choking her.

"Jacob!" Angela managed to get out, feeling Sean's icy skin against hers.

Jacob's breathing came faster matching his heart in a race against time. What would he do? What could he do? He wondered, shutting off the car's engine. Sean grinned at him, and choked her harder while Angela squeezed her fingers between his wrists and her neck. Jacob watched her face turning red, before turning in his seat to face them with his whole body. Trelawney turned his eyes back on Angela and seemed to caress her body and undress her with his look alone. While he was preoccupied, Jacob reached out with his right leg and stung Sean in his side, knocking him into the backseat and forcing him to let go of Angela.

While Sean was stunned Jacob climbed into the backseat with him and began pummeling his icy body. Angela got into the driver's side and watched the fight. Trelawney managed to get in several good punches to Jacob's head while the young man attempted to unlock the door on the other side of his enemy. His head snapped backwards and Sean was able to climb over him and deliver many more punches to his torso. Jacob moaned and tried to get up, but Sean had him pinned.

Angela got out of the car, ran around to the trunk and pulled out a crow bar. Opening the back side door, she swung the crow bar high in the air and let it come crashing down on Sean Trelawney's back. The man let out a loud scream and his body crumpled over Jacob. Angela threw the bar down, grabbed him by his ankles and hauled him out onto the pavement. Wasting no time, she'd grabbed the crow bar again before he had time to get up and come after her. She began waling his body, watching as large welts began to rise from his skin.

Surprisingly, it was Jacob who wrapped his arms around her from behind to keep her from doing more damage. He ushered her back into the car.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I think he's gone. I think it's all over. Finally," he said, starting the car up again, turning it around and driving away.

Angela was visibly shaking as road signs began appearing on the side of the highway once again. A large sign came into view up ahead and as they neared it, they found a hotel, the parking lot filled with cars.

"Angel, calm down. It's OK. We beat him! It's over!"

"How can you be so sure? I saw him get shot. I watched him die before my very own eyes, yet he came back!"

"It'll be fine. Trust me. Now look, let's just get a room for the rest of the night and forget everything that just happened."

Jacob parked the car and they got out.

"And what about Walter? Do you even know where the hell we are? What will Walter say when I'm late for work? And don't you have class in the morning?"

"No, my morning class is Thursdays. Tomorrow's only Tuesday. And you know we can call Walter and just explain that we went on a little road trip and you might be a little late, that's all. I'm sure he'll understand."

Angela gave a sarcastic laugh. "No he won't. This is not just some little road trip. It won't fly. Not with him. He's in the FBI!"

"Yeah and so are you. Look, don't worry about it. We're getting a room. We'll just spend the night relaxing. Forget what happened, get some sleep. And we can head back tomorrow. It'll all be like nothing ever happened."

"Riiight."

When Jacob approached the counter to reserve a room for the night the man in the maroon suit looked at him with a surprised look on his face, before bringing his hand up to his own face and gently touching it, as if something was there that couldn't be touched roughly.

Jacob remembered the fight in the car and shook his head.

"Don't worry. It's nothing. I'm fine. I just need a room for the night."

"Yeah, sure," the man said, still distracted by Jacob's face.

Flipping the lights on in their new hotel room, Angela was able to see Jacob's face in a clear light. Her breath caught in her throat and she stifled a cry before pushing him into a chair and ripping her purse open. She pulled out several band-aids and some Neosporin and kneeled down in front of him.

His face was covered in bruises, some of which had swollen and some had broken open. Squeezing some of the ointment onto her fingers, she gently spread it onto his wounds. He jerked back, surprised at the pain.

"Ow!"

"I'm sorry!"

"No, it's not you. Damn! That hurts!"

She finished applying the Neosporin and taped him up with band-aids. When she was done Jacob stood up to look at himself in the mirror and sighed when he saw his face covered in band-aids and bruises.

"What if he comes back?"

"Angel, we're here to forget everything."

Jacob went over to the bed where she was sitting and pulled her up beside him, his arm around her.

"Just forget it all. Forget everything that's ever happened. You are an amazing, no, the best, most amazing, computer programer in the world! You're known as Angela Marie Bennett and no one has ever known you as anything else. You and I met on a singles cruise last year, and ever since then, we've been hitting it off really well..."

"Jacob!"

"What? I was just trying to paint a grand picture. You mean that wasn't grand enough? Well, then, let's see..."


	9. Part 9

The Net: Nightmare On The Highway: Chapter 9

A/N: I know people are reading this, but there are no new reviews or comments. I'd really like to know how I'm doing! It would mean a lot to me to get a comment or suggestion or whatever. If I got something wrong, let me know that too! Thanks! And by the way, this nightmare is hardly over!

"Jacob..."

"Yeah?"

Angela snuggled closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For everything. For being Sorcerer and helping me through the Praetorians the first time, for being you and just being here with me. No one else has ever stuck by me like you have. And...and I just don't know what I would have ever done without you."

Jacob took her chin in his hand and turned her head to face him.

"Angel, when I first met you I had this feeling in me that something was going to happen. I don't know what but I couldn't leave you. It was like there was glue between us. And after the Praetorians went down, that glue was still there. And I can sense that whatever was going to happen still hasn't happened yet. And it's not that I can't leave you. I just don't want to."

"What are you saying Jacob?"Angela asked, her face just an inch from his.

"I..." Jacob stammered and looked back towards the old television set as he gulped down the wad of spit that had collected in his mouth. He turned back towards her and said the words he'd been holding back for so long. "Angel, I love you."

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into his beautiful blue eyes, great pools letting her into his soul. And she knew he was telling the truth.

"It's too much to hope for," she whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I always wanted you to. Right from the start. Even when I hated you when I found out who you really were. But I kept telling myself that it was too good to be true. Too good to hope for."

"Well, it's true Angel. I do love you. And I would do anything for you."

"I'm not hearing this. Jacob, I love you. I love you. I love you. But this is just a dream. This whole thing is a nightmare. Just Trelawney's plot to lure me out or something. But..."

Jacob leaned in then and kissed her. Cradling her head in his hands he didn't let go for a while. When he did Angela's head was spinning.

"It's true. This is happening. This is real," she breathed. "Sean is back."

"Was back, hun. You killed him pretty good with that crow bar, remember?"

"But he was killed with a bullet once before and he managed to rise from the grave after that. What makes you think he won't come back after some beating. We didn't even bury him this time."

Jacob kissed her gently on the lips. "Don't worry. The nightmare is over. Why don't we both just try to get some sleep. I'm sure that will help. We're tired and we've been through a lot. That's not going to help our brains."

"I'm not sure I can sleep after everything that's happened tonight."

"Just get comfortable. I'll turn on the TV for awhile and I'm sure it won't take long for you to fall asleep."

"Yeah, OK, sure," Angela said, getting comfortable, leaning against Jacob as he switched on the TV.

A young woman with shoulder length brown hair was on the TV sitting in front of a tiny laptop, apparently having a conversation with someone else:

"_Jacob, that can't be. Sean Trelawney knows where I am. All the time he manages to find me. You've got to stay away. If he were to find you and figure out who you are..."_

"_Angel, it wouldn't matter either way. I'm here to help you and I'm not backing down from them!" A young teenage voice came across the computer as his words came onto the screen._

In the room, Angela turned to Jacob and they looked at each other with quizzical expressions on their faces. Angela wrapped her arms around him and stared at the TV. Jacob didn't even try to change the channel, wondering what was going on.

On the TV Angela packed up her T46 laptop and left the small diner she'd been in. Walking down the street, backpack slung over one shoulder, she was careful to look around her and keep an eye on her surroundings.


	10. Chapter 10

The Net: Nightmare on the Highway: Chapter 10

The scene changed on the TV to reveal a dark, garbage filled ally way. A dark form was walking towards the camera crew and withing a few seconds the form was revealed to be a man. A man they both knew well. Sean stepped out of the shadows with an evil grin on his face.

"I'm gonna get you this time, Angela," he said to the camera. "I'm gonna get you."

And when he reached the lens, and was so close Angela and Jacob could see the fibers on his shirt and the pores on his face, he kept coming. They stared with wide eyes as his lifted a foot up and into the camera. But the camera didn't stop him. His foot came through the TV screen and into their hotel room.

"Jacob! He's not dead! I told you he wasn't dead!" Angela shouted, gripping Jacob as hard as she could without taking her eyes off the TV.

Two hands came out next, holding onto the sides of the TV they pulled the rest of Sean's body through.

Jacob was shaking with a fear he'd never known before. Sean was no longer human. He just couldn't be. He was no longer easy to deal with, no longer a bumbling idiot of a Praetorian. Now, he was a bumbling idiot who could come back to life at will. Jacob tried to remain calm for Angela's sake, but it didn't work. He knew Sean was after her, and if he could come back to life like this, then he'd do anything to get her.

Sean Trelawney grinned as he walked towards the couple on the bed. "I'm here for you Angela," he said, pulling a gun out from behind his back and aiming it at her. "Why don't you just come with me. Come quietly and no one will get hurt."

Angela looked briefly into Jacob's eyes as if to tell him how much she loved him before slowly getting off the bed.

"No!" Jacob jumped to his feet. "No! Take me instead! Please. I will do anything for her. Take me, and leave her alone. You don't need her."

"Jacob!" Angela turned to him, fear in her eyes.

"Ah, such a noble cause." Sean looked from one to the other before motioning Angela back onto the bed. "You stay here, sweetheart. One move after him, and he's a dead boy. Got it?"

Angela nodded furiously, pleading with her eyes to Jacob not to do this. He shook his head and went to Trelawney's side. The Praetorian grabbed his shoulder with one hand and with his gun in the other he suddenly began to lift off the ground. Angela's mouth dropped open and Jacob uttered a small cry of surprise when Sean pulled him upwards towards the ceiling. The Praetorian's head disappeared and his neck and shoulders. Jacob flinched as his own head neared the ceiling. But he went straight through as if nothing was there. He came up into the motel room above theirs. The room was dark and the bed appeared empty. Sean kept floating upwards, taking Jacob with him. Going through the second ceiling Jacob found himself outside, on the roof of the motel.

"What are you going to do with me?" Jacob asked when Sean came back down to the roof once Jacob was through.

"Well..." Sean was cut off by something catching the corner of his eye. He grabbed Jacob's shoulder again and pulled him to the edge of the roof. Jacob looked down to the hard pavement where one car sat in the parking lot and gulped. Trelawney pushed him over, while still holding onto his shirt. Jacob screamed for Trelawney to bring him back up, but the Praetorian was hardly paying attention as Angela came into view, panting from her sprint up the stairs.

"I told you not to follow us or I'd have to kill him. Did you really want to risk his life?"


	11. Chapter 11

The Net: Nightmare on the Highway: Chapter 11

A/N: I now know how this story is going to end! Yay! And the ending is near. Perhaps in about 2 more chapters. Of course, I make no guarantees, but I'm also trying to prepare and plan a novel to be written for this year's Nanowrimo in November so I'm looking forward to getting this story done. Anyway, please do enjoy and let me know what you think! Thanks!

"Angel! The remote!" Jacob screamed when he saw it in her hand.

She looked down as if she hadn't remembered grabbing it.

"Use it on him! He came from the TV, remember? Kill him with it, Angel!"

Sean's eyes went wide for a second as he continued to hold Jacob over the edge of the roof. Then he smiled.

"I'm really not sure you want to be doing that, Angela. One click from that remote and I may be gone, yes, but what about the kid? Huh? He'll just fall to the ground down there."

Sean leaned over the edge to see the ground far below. Jacob screamed as Sean moved, pushing him farther out from the roof.

"No!" Angela yelled. "Please! Don't let him go!"

"Push that button sweetheart and I'll have no choice."

"Don't call her sweetheart," Jacob glowered at Trelawney. "Angel, just do it. He'll be gone. Out of your life. You'll be free from the Praetorians. Free! Just push the button!"

Jacob looked from Angela to the ground far below, as Sean yanked him closer to the roof again. He screamed, waving his arms and legs around trying to get a hold onto the edge of the gutter. Trelawney pushed him back out again to prevent him from gaining the hold. Angela's eyes went wide, staring at them, her hands motionless around the television remote.

Jacob's face changed all of a sudden, the fear in his eyes gone, his mouth set in a line. He looked at Angela, straight into her eyes.

"Angel. I love you."

"Awww, how touching," Sean said, pulling Jacob back before pushing him out again.

The young man's eyes went wide with fright again, for just a second, before his features set again. "Do it Angel. Just do it. There's nothing else you can do. Push the button. I love you, Angel."

Angela's wide eyes went from Jacob to Trelawney and back again as she took a slow step backwards.

"I love you Jacob," she said and pushed the power button on the remote.

In a flash Sean Trelawney was gone and Jacob was falling.

"JACOB!" Angela screamed, running towards the edge of the building.

He threw his body at the building and grabbed a hold of the gutter as his body fell towards the hard pavement below. The gutter cracked on both sides of him as it took his full weight and he fell several more inches, clinging for his life. Not daring to look down, he looked up now, into the face of Angela, her brows furrowed in worry as she reached out to grab his hand. Her hands were shaking and she was breathing hard, saying "Oh God, oh God..." over and over again.


	12. Chapter 12

The Net: Nightmare on the Highway: Chapter 12

Seeing deep into her fear filled eyes, Jacob saw the woman he loved. The woman who wouldn't let him fall to his death, no matter how scared she seemed on the outside. As the gutter cracked further he let go with his right hand and swung it upwards into her hard grasp. With brute strength she pulled him back up onto the roof.

Without even stopping to catch her breath Angela threw her arms around Jacob as soon as she knew he wouldn't fall.

"Oh thank God you're alright. Thank God."

Jacob said nothing, just held her close, his eyes shut tight. A single tear made its way down his cheek.

A full fifteen minutes later they got up and went back down to their room. Angela gathered her purse and headed for the door. The television screen was black as Jacob straightened out the bed covers.

"We'll just get a different room for the night," he said.

"No. I want out of this place. Now."

"But where will we go?"

"Home. Let's go home. We can sleep all day once we get there. I'll just call Walter and tell him I need to take the day off. I just want to go home."

"OK. We can go home."

Together they left for the parking lot and got into Angela's car. Driving down the deserted highway the hotel disappeared into the darkness until their own headlights were all they could see in the darkness.

"Stay the night," Angela said, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"I really just don't want to be alone right now."

"Oh, that's so sweet, Angela," another voice spoke up. "How come I never got an invite like that?"

They both turned in their seats to see Sean Trelawney in the back seat again.

"What? How?" Jacob sputtered.

"Ah, now, now. That was just my TV image, children. This is the real me."

Jacob noticed that Sean looked a little off from before. He seemed fainter, as if, if he tried hard enough he would be able to see right through the man.

Angela spun her head back around and kept her eyes on the road through the maze of cracks in the windshield.

"Now, I'm going to do what I tried to do on the roof back there. Only this time," he cocked a gun, "I'm going to do it right."

He brought the weapon into plain sight as he leveled it and aimed it at Jacob's head. The gun went off as Angela's hands left the steering wheel. She leapt towards Jacob, pushing him forward, as the car lurched off the road and the bullet lodged into her arm. The car fell down a grassy incline and smashed into a tree at the bottom. Angela was thrown back into her seat. Jacob's head came within inches of hitting the windshield before he was slammed backwards. When they'd caught their breath, they looked back to see Sean still sitting in the back seat, though his body seemed to be fading from existence right before their eyes. Jacob began to see the back of the seat the man was sitting on.

"What the...What's going on?" he asked, bewildered by the disappearing enemy who hadn't been hurt by gun shot or by the car smashing into the tree.

"Damn it!" Trelawney swore. "That was my last chance to kill you both. Shit. I can't kill you. Aren't you lucky."

Angela gripped her right arm in her left, trying hard to keep the flow of blood under control. "What do you mean?"

"You'll do anything for each other. Damn it. You'll risk your lives for each other. True Love. That's what it is. True love is preventing me from killing you. Or anyone else from killing you for that matter. Oh, how I hate True Love!"


	13. Chapter 13

The Net: Nightmare on the Highway: Chapter 13

Sean Trelawney was looking paler by the second as more and more of the back seat could be seen through his body.

"The Devil gave me one chance! One last chance to get you! And I failed. Cause you can't kill True Love. Guess it's back to the firey gates of hell for me. After all, Saint Peter wouldn't take me before. He certainly won't take me now. Damn True Love! Damn it all to hell."

There was a sudden, loud, pop and Sean Trelawney was gone.

The windshield shattered, raining broken glass on both of them. Jacob closed his eyes against the glass and when he opened them again, Angela was staring at her arm.

"My arm feels tingly," she said. "It didn't feel like this last time I was shot in the arm?"

"Take your hand away, let me see how bad it is."

Angela moved her hand to reveal the area where she'd been shot but Jacob couldn't see a bullet wound. Only a massive bruise the size of China remained along with the blood that had already poured forth and stained both their skin and clothing.

"What the...what happened?"

Angela got up the nerve to look at her arm and was taken aback by the missing bullet hole.

Jacob, taking her arm gently in his hand, twisted it around a little to see the other side. Not even a scratch existed.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I feel fine. The tingling sensation just stopped."

"Weird."

Jacob sat back in his seat and sighed. "I bet that's the same tree I hit before too."

Sirens rent the air as several police cars and an ambulance arrived on the scene. A familiar face appeared at Jacob's window.

"FBI! What the hell they doin' callin' FBI in on a simple car accident?" Jacob asked, smiling up at Walter as he rolled down his window.

"What the hell happened! You guys OK?" Angela's boss asked, a worried sound in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine," Angela said. "We just ran off the road. My hand slipped. What are you doing here Walter?"

"That's a lot of blood for your hand to have slipped, Angela. What happened?" Walter opened Jacob's door and helped the college freshman out as a uniformed officer helped Angela.

"I told you, Walter. My hand slipped and we ran off the road."

"For three days?"

"What do you mean? It's Tuesday. By now."

"Try Friday."

"What?"

"You two have been missing for three whole days!"

"No. But. It was only one night. Jacob? Right?"

"Yeah, one night. I know it was."

"Well, I would certainly like to know exactly what happened to you two. Three days missing and you show up 500 miles from home on a little-used highway closed for major renovations and repaving. Now I want some answers."

Jacob and Angela only stared at him, trying to comprehend the truth.

"Walter," Jacob began. "You believe in Big Foot, right?"

"What's that got to do with this? You didn't see him, did you?"

"You believe the Praetorians really did exist, right?" Jacob asked as an EMT escorted him to a stretcher beside the ambulance to check him over. Angela followed close behind with another EMT.

"Of course."

"Do you believe in heaven and hell?"

"What's this all about?"

"You killed Sean Trelawney, right?" The EMT's had them both sit up on two stretchers before pulling out stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs

"Yes, I did! Now stop asking all these questions!"

"He came back from the dead."

"What?"

"Could you just calm down for a second and breath deep for me," the EMT asked, putting his stethoscope on Jacob's chest. Jacob turned from Walter and breathed as instructed until the EMT was done with the stethoscope.

"The Devil granted him one last time to try and kill us both," Jacob explained.

"Oh my God. This is nuts. You need to seek some help. The accident screwed up your brain somehow. Angela? How are you feeling?"

"I'm OK."

"Good. I'm not sure I want to know what really happened beyond the fact that you're both physically OK."

Walter shook his head and went back to his car to wait for the EMTs to finish checking them over.

"Jacob?" Angela asked.

"Yeah?"

"Move in with me."

"What? Move in?" A grin spread across Jacob's face. "That's the best thing I've heard in a long time, Angel. Besides the fact that Sean couldn't kill us."

"I don't mean just move in. Move in, and marry me."

Jacob's eyes went wide as he studied the seriousness on her face and the hint of worry in the way she held her hands so tight they were turning white. Ignoring the EMT administering a blood pressure cuff to his arm he got off the stretcher he'd been sitting on and rushed over to Angela, throwing his arms around her.

"Oh my God, Angel, I love you. This is the moment I couldn't miss!"

"Is that a 'yes'?"

Taking her head between his hands Jacob leaned in and kissed her. "Yes," he breathed when he let her go.

She grinned.

"Um, I hate to interrupt," an EMT said, "But we still need to finish checking you over."

"We're fine," Jacob said.

"But..."

"We're fine," he said again, taking Angela's hand and pulling her off the stretcher.

He looked up at the sky and spread his arms upwards. "Because Sean Trelawney can't kill True Love!" he shouted for the whole world to hear.

A/N: There is an epilogue next...don't forget to read it!


	14. Epilogue

The Net: Nightmare on the Highway: Epilogue

Several weeks later, early one Monday morning Angela went into work covered in a beautiful tan and a smile on her face.

"Wow. You look great," Walter commented from behind the desk in the music store. "How was the honey moon?"

"Honestly, Walter, as much as I love my job, I don't want to be here."

Jacob came in seconds later after parking the car.

"Hey Walter. Just thought I'd come say hi. I've got class in a bit so I can't stay long."

Walter nodded. "Oh. Angela, before I forget USA Network called while you were out."

"USA Network?" Angela asked as she went into the back room to her desk. The other two followed her.

"Yeah, you know that little known TV station that plays mostly syndications and reruns?"

"Oh, yeah. What'd they want?"

She sat down at her desk and perused the papers that had accumulated while she was gone. Jacob sat on the corner of her desk while Walter stood in the doorway.

"They want to make a show about your fight with the Praetorians."

"What?" She stopped and looked up at him before turning to Jacob who was also staring at her, the scenes from the hotel television rolling in both their minds.

"Yeah, they want to have Brooke Langton play your character and Eric Szmanda play you, Jacob."

They looked back at Walter.

"Brooke...Langton? Who's that?"

"You know, that woman on Melrose Place? She kinda looks like you too. Just a bit."

"Oh her."

"I've never even heard of this Eric dude. Why couldn't they pick someone like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio?"

Angela gave him a punch in the arm and laughed.

"Well, if they call back, tell them no."

"Aww, Angel, why not?" Jacob asked. "Hun, you could be famous!"

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of all that craziness in my life. Right now, I just want to do my job and enjoy what's left of my life with my husband without the craziness of being famous."

THE END

A/N: Please don't forget to post a comment. It only takes a moment and I'd love to know what you think! Thanks!


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